U.S. patent number 7,390,954 [Application Number 11/254,603] was granted by the patent office on 2008-06-24 for electronic musical apparatus system, server-side electronic musical apparatus and client-side electronic musical apparatus.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Yamaha Corporation. Invention is credited to Shigehiko Mizuno.
United States Patent |
7,390,954 |
Mizuno |
June 24, 2008 |
Electronic musical apparatus system, server-side electronic musical
apparatus and client-side electronic musical apparatus
Abstract
A plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 are
connected to a server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 through
a communications network 50. Each of the client-side electronic
musical apparatuses 10, which is provided with an ID, attaches the
ID to a signal representative of operation of performance operators
11 and setting operators 12, and transmits the ID-added signal to
the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30. The server-side
electronic musical apparatus 30 independently and concurrently
executes, through the use of the ID, processes corresponding to the
operational signals for the respective client-side electronic
musical apparatuses 10 to generate musical tone data and display
data, and transmits the generated data with the ID to the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. The
thus-transmitted data is appropriately received by the client-side
electronic musical apparatus 10 identified on the basis of the ID.
In spite of having a simple configuration, therefore, the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 are able
to independently and concurrently operate as a sophisticated and
high-performance electronic musical apparatus.
Inventors: |
Mizuno; Shigehiko (Hamamatsu,
JP) |
Assignee: |
Yamaha Corporation
(Hamamatsu-Shi, JP)
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Family
ID: |
35645784 |
Appl.
No.: |
11/254,603 |
Filed: |
October 19, 2005 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20060086235 A1 |
Apr 27, 2006 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Oct 21, 2004 [JP] |
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2004-306395 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
84/609; 84/601;
84/622; 84/645 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G10H
1/0066 (20130101); G10H 2220/005 (20130101); G10H
2240/115 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G10H
7/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;84/609,601,622,645 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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1 501 072 |
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Jan 2005 |
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EP |
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2 395 631 |
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May 2004 |
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GB |
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3383108 |
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Dec 2002 |
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JP |
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WO 01/86628 |
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Nov 2001 |
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WO |
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WO-01/86628 |
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Nov 2001 |
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WO |
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WO-03/081572 |
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Oct 2003 |
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WO |
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Other References
WAP Forum, Wireless Application Protocol WAP 2.0 Technical White
Paper, Wireless Application Protocol Forum Ltd., Jan. 2002, pp.
1-13. cited by examiner .
Alvaro Barbosa et al., "Public Sound Objects: A Shared Musical
Space on the Web", Computer Society, Proceedings of the Second
International Conference on WEB Delivering of Music, 2002. cited by
other .
WAP Forum, Wireless Application Protocol WAP 2.0 Technical White
Paper, Wireless Application Protocol Forum Ltd., Jan. 2002, pp.
1-13. cited by other.
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Primary Examiner: Donovan; Lincoln
Assistant Examiner: Russell; Christina
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Morrison & Foerster LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An electronic musical apparatus system in which a plurality of
client-side electronic musical apparatuses are connected to a
server-side electronic musical apparatus through a communications
network, wherein each of the plurality of client-side electronic
musical apparatuses is provided with identification data for
identifying the respective client-side electronic musical
apparatuses, and each of the plurality of client-side electronic
musical apparatuses comprises: an operational signal transmitting
portion for attaching the provided identification data to an
operational signal representative of operation by a user on the
client-side electronic musical apparatus, and transmitting the
operational signal with the identification data to the server-side
electronic musical apparatus; and a data reproducing portion for
retrieving, from among musical tone data having identification data
transmitted from the server-side electronic musical apparatus in
response to the transmission of said operation signals, musical
tone data having its own identification data, and generating a
musical tone on the basis of the retrieved musical tone data, and
wherein the server-side electronic musical apparatus comprises: a
data generating portion for receiving operational signals
transmitted from the respective client-side electronic musical
apparatuses, and independently and concurrently executing, through
the use of identification data attached to the operational signals,
processes corresponding to the operational signals for the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses to generate
musical tone data; and a data transmitting portion for attaching to
the musical tone data generated by the data generating portion the
identification data attached to the operational signals and
transmitting the musical data with the identification data to the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses, wherein each
of the plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses
further includes performance operators for playing a musical
instrument and setting operators for specifying a mode of musical
tones, wherein said operational signals include MIDI event data
representative of operation of said performance operators and an
operation event signal representative of operation of said setting
operators, wherein said data generating portion comprises a tone
generator module, wherein the processes executed by said data
generating portion includes generation, by said tone generator
module, of tone signal as musical tone data, and wherein said tone
signals is specified by said MIDI event data following a parameter
set by said operational event signal representative of operation of
said setting operators.
2. An electronic musical apparatus system according to claim 1,
wherein each of the plurality of client-side electronic musical
apparatuses further comprises a connection request transmitting
portion for transmitting a connection request along with the
provided identification data to the server-side electronic musical
apparatus, and the server-side electronic musical apparatus further
comprises a screen data transmitting portion for transmitting to
the client-side electronic musical apparatus, in response to the
connection request, screen data to which the identification data
transmitted along with the connection request is added; whereby the
data reproducing portion of the respective client-side electronic
musical apparatuses retrieves, from among screen data having
identification data transmitted from the server-side electronic
musical apparatus in response to the connection request, screen
data having its own identification data and displays a screen on
the basis of the retrieved screen data.
3. An electronic musical apparatus system according to claim 1,
wherein the generator module is formed of a plurality of tone
generator channels for generating musical tone signals.
4. An electronic musical apparatus system according to claim 1,
wherein the data generating portion of the server-side electronic
musical apparatus has a sequencer module responding to each of the
plurality of the client-side electronic musical apparatuses in an
independent manner to generate data representative of a musical
tone or a musical score on the basis of previously stored music
data.
5. An electronic musical apparatus system according to claim 1,
wherein the data generating portion of the server-side electronic
musical apparatus has a mixer module comprising a plurality of
input buses each corresponding to each of the plurality of
client-side electronic musical apparatuses, a plurality of output
buses each corresponding to each of the plurality of client-side
electronic musical apparatuses, and a plurality of mixing buses
provided between each of the input buses and each of the output
buses to selectively output, to the output buses, digital signals
input to the input buses.
6. An electronic musical apparatus system according to claim 1,
wherein the data generating portion of the server-side electronic
musical apparatus has a recorder module for recording and
reproducing a digital musical tone signal in corresponding relation
to each of the plurality of client-side electronic musical
apparatuses.
7. An electronic musical apparatus system according to claim 1,
wherein the data generating portion of the server-side electronic
musical apparatus has a screen data generating module for
generating screen data for a function of a plurality of functions
that corresponds to the received operational signal and screen data
applicable to the plurality of functions in common.
8. An electronic musical apparatus system according to claim 1,
wherein the data generating portion of the server-side electronic
musical apparatus achieves a plurality of functions, the plurality
of functions being selectively assigned to the plurality of
client-side electronic musical apparatuses.
9. An electronic musical apparatus system according to claim 1,
wherein the data generating portion of the server-side electronic
musical apparatus achieves a predetermined function, the function
being preferentially assigned to a specific one of the client-side
electronic musical apparatuses.
10. A server-side electronic musical apparatus connected with a
plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses through a
communications network, the server-side electronic musical
apparatus comprising: a data generating portion for receiving
operational signals which are transmitted from the respective
client-side electronic musical apparatuses and to which
identification data for identifying the respective client-side
electronic musical apparatuses are attached, and independently and
concurrently executing, through the use of the identification data
attached to the operational signals, processes corresponding to the
operational signals for the respective client-side electronic
musical apparatuses to generate musical tone data or display data;
and a data transmitting portion for attaching to the musical tone
data generated by the data generating portion the identification
data attached to the operational signals and transmitting the
musical data with the identification data to the respective
client-side electronic musical apparatuses, wherein said
operational signals include MIDI event data representative of
operation of performance operators of said client-side electronic
musical apparatuses and an operational event signal representative
of operation of setting operators of said client-side electronic
musical apparatuses, wherein said data generating portion includes
a tone generator module, wherein said processes executed by said
data generating portion include generation, by said tone generator
module, of tone signals as said musical tone data, and wherein tone
signals being specified by said MIDI event data following a
parameter set by said operational event signal representative of
operation of said setting operators.
11. A client-side electronic musical apparatus connected with a
server-side electronic musical apparatus through a communications
network, the client-side electronic musical apparatus comprising:
an operational signal transmitting portion for attaching
identification data for identifying the client-side electronic
musical apparatus to an operational signal representative of
operation by a user on the client-side electronic musical
apparatus, and transmitting the operational signal with the
identification data to the server-side electronic musical
apparatus; a data reproducing portion for retrieving, from among
musical tone data having identification data transmitted from the
server-side electronic musical apparatus in response to the
transmission of operational signal, musical tone data having its
own identification data, and generating a musical tone signal on
the basis of the retrieved musical tone data; a plurality of
performance operators for playing a musical instrument; and setting
operators for specifying a mode of musical tones, wherein said
operational signals include MIDI event data representative of
operation of said performance operators and an operational event
signal representative of operation of said setting operators.
12. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program
applied to a server-side electronic musical apparatus connected
with a plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses
through a communications network, the computer program causing the
server-side electronic musical apparatus to perform the steps of: a
data generating step for receiving operational signals which are
transmitted from the respective client-side electronic musical
apparatuses and to which identification data for identifying the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses are attached,
and independently and concurrently executing, through the use of
the identification data attached to the operational signals,
processes corresponding to the operational signal for the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses to generate
musical tone data; and a data transmitting step for attaching to
the musical tone data generated by the data generating step the
identification data attached to the operational signals, and
transmitting the musical data with the identification data to the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses, wherein said
operational signals include MIDI event data representative of
operation of performance operators of said client-side electronic
musical apparatuses and an operational event signal representative
of operation of setting operators of said client-side electronic
musical apparatuses, wherein said data generating step includes a
step of generating tone signals as said musical tone data, and
wherein said tone signals is specified by said MIDI event data
following a parameter set by said operational event signal
representative of operation of said setting operators.
13. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program
applied to a client-side electronic musical apparatus connected
with a server-side electronic musical apparatus through a
communications network, the computer program causing the
client-side electronic musical apparatus to perform the steps of:
an operational signal transmitting step for attaching
identification data for identifying the client-side electronic
musical apparatus to an operational signal representative of
operation by a user on the client-side electronic musical
apparatus, and transmitting the operational signal with the
identification data to the server-side electronic musical
apparatus; and a data reproducing step for retrieving, from among
musical tone data having identification data transmitted from the
server-side electronic musical apparatus in response to the
transmission of operational signal, musical tone data having its
own identification data, and generating a musical tone signal on
the basis of the retrieved musical tone data, wherein said
operational signals include MIDI event data representative of
operation of performance operators of said client-side electronic
musical apparatus and an operational event signal representative of
operation of setting operators of said client-side electronic
musical apparatus.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic musical apparatus
system in which a plurality of client-side electronic musical
apparatuses are connected to a server-side electronic musical
apparatus via a communications network, the server-side electronic
musical apparatus and the client-side electronic musical
apparatuses which compose the system, and computer programs applied
to the apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been a wide variety of electronic musical apparatuses
such as electronic musical instruments, ranging from sophisticated
and high-performance apparatuses (hereinafter referred to as
high-grade apparatuses) to unsophisticated and low-performance
apparatuses (hereinafter referred to as low-grade apparatuses). In
addition, there has been a conventional scheme in which a low-grade
apparatus is connected with a high-grade apparatus through MIDI,
for example, to allow the low-grade apparatus to perform functions
of the high-grade apparatus and to synchronize sequencers of the
low-grade apparatus and the high-grade apparatus (see JP3383108B,
for example).
In the above conventional scheme, however, those apparatuses cannot
be operated independently and concurrently. In order to allow a
plurality of electronic musical apparatuses to concurrently perform
sophisticated and high-performance tasks, therefore, the respective
electronic musical apparatuses have to be sophisticated and
high-performance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was accomplished to solve the above-described
problem, and an object thereof is to provide an electronic musical
apparatus system which enables each of a plurality of electronic
musical apparatuses to independently and concurrently perform
sophisticated and high-performance tasks in spite of their simple
configuration. In addition, the object of the present invention is
also to provide a server-side electronic musical apparatus and
client-side electronic musical apparatuses that form the system,
and computer programs applied to the apparatuses.
In order to achieve the above-described object, it is an aspect of
the present invention to provide an electronic musical apparatus
system in which a plurality of client-side electronic musical
apparatuses are connected to a server-side electronic musical
apparatus through a communications network, wherein each of the
plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses is provided
with identification data for identifying the respective client-side
electronic musical apparatuses, and the each of the plurality of
client-side electronic musical apparatuses comprises an operational
signal transmitting portion for attaching the provided
identification data to an operational signal representative of
operation by a user on the client-side electronic musical
apparatus, and transmitting the operational signal with the
identification data to the server-side electronic musical
apparatus; a data reproducing portion for retrieving, from among
musical tone data or display data having identification data
transmitted from the server-side electronic musical apparatus in
response to the transmission of operational signal, musical tone
data or display data having its own identification data, and
generating a musical tone signal or displaying a screen on the
basis of the retrieved musical tone data or display data, and
wherein the server-side electronic musical apparatus comprises a
data generating portion for receiving operational signals
transmitted from the respective client-side electronic musical
apparatuses, and independently and concurrently executing, through
the use of identification data attached to the operational signals,
processes corresponding to the operational signals for the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses to generate
musical tone data or display data; and a data transmitting portion
for attaching to the musical tone data or display data generated by
the data generating portion the identification data attached to the
operational signals and transmitting the musical data or display
data with the identification data to the respective client-side
electronic musical apparatuses.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a
server-side electronic musical apparatus connected with a plurality
of client-side electronic musical apparatuses through a
communications network, the server-side electronic musical
apparatus comprising a data generating portion for receiving
operational signals which are transmitted from the respective
client-side electronic musical apparatuses and to which
identification data for identifying the respective client-side
electronic musical apparatuses are attached, and independently and
concurrently executing, through the use of the identification data
attached to the operational signals, processes corresponding to the
operational signals for the respective client-side electronic
musical apparatuses to generate musical tone data or display data;
and a data transmitting portion for attaching to the musical tone
data or display data generated by the data generating portion the
identification data attached to the operational signals and
transmitting the musical data or display data with the
identification data to the respective client-side electronic
musical apparatuses.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a
client-side electronic musical apparatus connected with a
server-side electronic musical apparatus through a communications
network, the client-side electronic musical apparatus comprising an
operational signal transmitting portion for attaching
identification data for identifying the client-side electronic
musical apparatus to an operational signal representative of
operation by a user on the client-side electronic musical
apparatus, and transmitting the operational signal with the
identification data to the server-side electronic musical
apparatus; and a data reproducing portion for retrieving, from
among musical tone data or display data having identification data
transmitted from the server-side electronic musical apparatus in
response to the transmission of operational signal, musical tone
data or display data having its own identification data, and
generating a musical tone signal or displaying a screen on the
basis of the retrieved musical tone data or display data.
The respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses in the
present invention have, for example, a performance operator for use
in performance of a musical instrument, an operator for selecting
or controlling the mode of musical tones to be generated, an
operator for selecting or controlling the mode of a display unit, a
sound system formed of an amplifier and speakers for generating
musical tones, a display unit for displaying a screen and the like.
The client-side electronic musical apparatuses, however, are not
provided with a tone generator, sequencer, mixer, recorder and the
like, or are provided with a tone generator, sequencer, mixer,
recorder and the like that have only simple functions. Operational
signals transmitted from the client-side electronic musical
apparatuses to the server-side electronic musical apparatus are the
signals indicative of, for example, performance operational event
representative of operation of the performance operators,
operational event representative of operation of the operators for
selecting or controlling the mode of musical tones to be generated
or the mode of the display unit, and the like. The server-side
electronic musical apparatus is provided with devices that achieve
various musical functions such as a tone generator, sequencer,
mixer, and recorder.
In the present invention configured as described above,
transmission of operational signals with identification data from
the respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses to the
server-side electronic musical apparatus causes the server-side
electronic musical apparatus to independently and concurrently
execute processes corresponding to the operational signals for the
client-side electronic musical apparatuses and transmit resultant
musical tone data or display data with the identification data to
the respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses. Each of
the client-side electronic musical apparatuses then retrieves
musical tone data or display data having its own identification
data to generate a musical tone signal or display a screen. As a
result, the client-side electronic musical apparatuses, in spite of
being unsophisticated and low-performance, can utilize the
sophisticated and high-performance functions of the server-side
electronic musical apparatus, substantially operating as a
sophisticated and high-performance electronic musical apparatus.
Particularly, since the server-side electronic musical apparatus
performs various processing independently and concurrently in
response to requests from the plurality of client-side electronic
musical apparatuses, the present invention is convenient in that
the plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses are
available independently and concurrently.
Furthermore, the present invention can be configured and embodied
not only as an invention of an apparatus but also as an invention
of a computer program and a method.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the general arrangement of an
electronic musical apparatus system according to an embodiment of
the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of client-side electronic
musical apparatuses shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a hardware block diagram of a server-side electronic
musical apparatus shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a client program and a server
program; and
FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the client-side electronic
musical apparatus and the server-side electronic musical
apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with
reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram showing an
electronic musical apparatus system of the present invention. The
electronic musical apparatus system includes a plurality of
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 (four client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10 in the present embodiment) and a
server-side electronic musical apparatus 30. The client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10 and the server-side electronic
musical apparatus 30 are located in a relatively confined area such
as a music room, a music rehearsal room or a building,
interconnecting via a communications network 50 such as a wired or
wireless local network. The communications network 50 is also
connected to the Internet 60 to allow the server-side electronic
musical apparatus 30 and the client-side electronic musical
apparatuses 10 to download various programs and data from a WEB
server 70 via the Internet 60.
The client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 are simple
electronic musical apparatuses which basically do not have a tone
generator, sequencer, mixer, recorder or the like. Each of the
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 is provided with
unique identification data (hereinafter simply referred to as ID).
Used as the ID may be electronic musical apparatus ID for
discerning between apparatuses or IP address for discerning between
network addresses. As shown in FIG. 2, each of the client-side
electronic musical apparatus 10 has performance operators 11,
setting operators 12, a display unit 13 and a sound system 14.
The performance operators 11 are used for playing a musical
instrument, composed of operational elements of a keyboard type, a
stringed instrument type, a percussion instrument type, a wind
instrument type or the like. The setting operators 12, which are
provided on an operating panel, are used for specifying the mode
(pitch, loudness, tone color, type of accompaniment, musical piece,
etc.) of musical tones to be generated, the display mode of the
display unit 13, and the like. The setting operators 12 include
physical switches, sliders, knobs, etc. The setting operators 12
also include a mouse and software operational elements of touch
panel type for inputting instructions related to the display mode
of the display unit 13. The operation of the performance operators
11 and the setting operators 12 is detected by detecting circuits
15, 16 connected to a bus 20.
The display unit 13 is configured by a liquid crystal display, a
CRT or the like, displaying characters, numerals, graphics, etc.
The display mode of the display unit 13 is controlled by a display
circuit 17 that is connected to the bus 20. The sound system 14
includes speakers, amplifiers, and the like and emits tones
represented by analog musical tone signals supplied from a D/A
converter 18. The D/A converter 18, which is connected to the bus
20, converts digital musical tone signals (digital audio data
representative of the instantaneous value of a musical tone signal)
supplied through the bus 20 into analog signals and outputs the
converted signals to the sound system 14.
Furthermore, the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 also
has a CPU 21, a timer 22, a ROM 23 and a RAM 24 that are connected
to the bus 20 and compose the main body of a microcomputer. The
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 also includes an
external storage device 25 and a communications interface circuit
26 that are connected to the bus 20. The external storage device 25
includes various storage media such as HD, CD, FD, MO, DVD, and
semiconductor memory that are previously incorporated in or are
attachable to the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10. The
external storage device 25 also includes drive units for the
storage media to enable storing and reading of voluminous data and
programs. The data and programs are previously stored in the
external storage device 25 before incorporation into the
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10, are stored in the
external storage device 25 that is arbitrarily attached to the
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10, or are externally
supplied through the communications interface circuit 26 to the
external storage device 25. In the present embodiment,
particularly, in the external storage device 25 there are stored
the above-described IDs and a client program shown in FIG. 4. The
communications interface circuit 26 is connected to the
communications network 50.
The server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 includes, as shown
in FIG. 3, setting operators 31, a display unit 32 and detecting
circuits 35, 36 that are similar to the setting operators 12, the
display unit 13, and the detecting circuits 15, 16 of the
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10. The server-side
electronic musical apparatus 30 also includes a tone generator 33
and a mixing circuit 34. The tone generator 33, which is connected
to a bus 40, inputs MIDI event data (tone generation control data,
musical tone control data, etc.) supplied under the later-described
control of CPU 41, generates digital musical tone signals on the
basis of the MIDI event data, and outputs the generated signals.
The tone generator 33 has a multiplicity of tone generator channels
in order to generate musical tone signals requested from the
plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. The
tone generator 33 is provided with 256 tone generator channels, for
example, to allow each of the four client-side electronic musical
apparatuses 10 to simultaneously generate 64 tone signals on
average on the basis of requests from the four client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10. The mixing circuit 34
appropriately mixes digital musical tone signals generated for
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 at the
tone generator 33 and outputs the mixed musical tone signals.
Furthermore, the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 also
has a CPU 41, a timer 42, a ROM 43 and a RAM 44 that are connected
to the bus 40 and compose the main body of a microcomputer. The
server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 also includes an
external storage device 45 and a communications interface circuit
46 that are connected to the bus 40. The CPU 41, timer 42, ROM 43,
RAM 44, external storage device 45 and communications interface
circuit 46 are configured similarly to the CPU 21, timer 22, ROM
23, RAM 24, external storage device 25 and communications interface
circuit 26 of the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10. In
the external storage device 45, however, there is stored music data
(automatic performance data), automatic accompaniment data and the
like for use in a server program shown in FIG. 4 and a
later-described sequencer module BL14 shown in FIG. 5.
Execution of the server program enables the CPU 41 to, through the
use of the above-described music data, automatic accompaniment data
and the like, achieve musical tone generating function, sequencer
function, mixing function and recording function in cooperation
with the tone generator 33 and the mixing circuit 34. These
functions will be detailed in the descriptions about processes of
the server program with reference to a functional block diagram of
FIG. 5. A transmitting portion BL1 of the client-side electronic
musical apparatus 10 in the functional block diagram in FIG. 5
corresponds to the communications interface circuit 26 in FIG. 2
and the process for transmitting various data and various
instructions to the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30. A
receiving portion BL2 corresponds to the communications interface
circuit 26 in FIG. 2 and the process for receiving musical tone
data and screen data from the server-side electronic musical
apparatus 30. A receiving portion BL11 of the server-side
electronic musical apparatus 30 in the functional block diagram of
FIG. 5 corresponds to the communications interface circuit 46 in
FIG. 3 and the process for receiving various data and various
instructions from the client-side electronic musical apparatuses
10. A transmitting portion BL12 corresponds to the communications
interface circuit 46 in FIG. 3 and the process for transmitting
musical tone data and screen data to the client-side electronic
musical apparatuses 10. In FIG. 5, furthermore, thick solid lines
indicate traffic of digital musical tone signals (audio digital
data) while thick broken lines indicate traffic of MIDI event data
(performance event information). Thin solid lines indicate traffic
of other signals (screen data and operational event data of the
setting operator 12).
Next explained will be operation of the embodiment configured as
described above. After power switch which is not shown is turned
on, the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 starts
executing the client program of FIG. 4 at step C10. After
performing step C11, the client-side electronic musical apparatus
10 repeatedly executes circulating processing formed of steps C12
to C15. The server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 starts
executing the server program of FIG. 4 at step S10 and repeatedly
executes circulating processing formed of steps S11 to S18.
At step C11, if an instruction to establish connection with the
server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 is issued by a user
through the manipulation of the setting operators 11 of the
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10, the CPU 21 transmits a
connection request and its own ID to the server-side electronic
musical apparatus 30 via the communications network 50. At step
C11, alternatively, after start-up of the client-side electronic
musical apparatus 10, the CPU 21 automatically transmits a
connection request and its own ID to the server-side electronic
musical apparatus 30 via the communications network 50. By the
process of step S11 the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30
transmits, onto the communications network 50, screen data for the
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 which corresponds to
the above-transmitted ID. To the screen data there is attached the
above-transmitted ID. By the process of step C12, one of the
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 identified on the
basis of the ID transmitted from the server-side electronic musical
apparatus 30 retrieves the ID-added screed data and displays the
data on the display unit 13. The screen data in this case is the
data used for making instructions and settings of later-described
various functions of the server-side electronic musical apparatus
30.
When settings on various functions have been made on the
above-identified client-side electronic musical apparatus 10
through the operation of the setting operators 12 in accordance
with the display screen of the display unit 13, the client-side
electronic musical apparatus 10 transmits, at step C13, an
operational event signal representative of the operation of the
setting operators 12 to the server-side electronic musical
apparatus 30 via the communications network 50, attaching the ID of
its own to the operational event signal. At step S12 the
server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 receives the
above-transmitted operational event signal and conducts the setting
process required for a sequencing process of step S14, a tone
generating process of step S15, a mixing process of step S16, and a
recording process of step S17.
After conducting the process of step S12, the CPU 41 generates, at
step S13, screen data for displaying a screen which results from
the operational event of the client-side electronic musical
apparatus 10. The screen to be generated includes a screen of the
respective functions (e.g., a screen regarding the sequencer) and a
screen that is not limited to any of the above-described functions
but is applicable to the functions in common (e.g., a screen for
switching between functions). At step S13 the CPU 41 then transmits
the generated screen data onto the communications network 50,
accompanying the screen data with the ID that has been attached to
the operational event signal. These processes of steps S12, S13
correspond to the function performed by a control portion BL13 in
the functional block diagram of FIG. 5.
In the functional block diagram of FIG. 5, the sequencing process,
tone generating process, mixing process and recording process are
represented as a sequencer module BL14, a tone generator module
BL15, a mixer module BL16 and a recorder module BL17, respectively.
Therefore, the control portion BL 13 receives an operational event
from the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10, issues, to
the modules BL14 through BL17, a command corresponding to the
operational event, and generates screen data for displaying a
screen of the respective function modules (e.g., a screen regarding
the sequencer) and a screen that is not limited to any of the
above-described function modules but is applicable to the function
modules in common (e.g., a screen for switching between functions),
the screen resulting from the operational event. The control
portion BL13 then transmits the generated screen data onto the
communications network 50, accompanying the screen data with the ID
that has been attached to the operational event signal.
By the above-described step C12, the client-side electronic musical
apparatus 10 identified on the basis of the ID attached to the
screen data retrieves the ID-added screen data transmitted onto the
communications network 50, and displays on the display unit 13 a
screen represented by the retrieved screen data. The processes of
steps C12, C13 and steps S12, S13 enable the client-side electronic
musical apparatus 10 to specify the behaviors of function modules
BL14 through BL17 of the server-side electronic musical apparatus
30.
The transmission of screen data from the server-side electronic
musical apparatus 30 to the client-side electronic musical
apparatus 10 may be done such that a screenful of data
representative of the whole content of one screen is sent at each
transmission. Alternatively, the transmission may be done such that
sent at each transmission is only partial data representative of a
change to contents contained in a screen. In this case, the
screenful data and the partial screen data may be distinguished on
the basis of screen ID (screen identification data). In this
scheme, the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 receives
only screen ID at first. If the client-side electronic musical
apparatus 10 stores screen data corresponding to the received
screen ID, the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 reads
out and displays the stored screen data. If the screen data is not
stored, the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 issues a
request for the screen data to the server-side electronic musical
apparatus 30. This scheme helps alleviate network traffic as well
as increase imaging speed.
At the above-described step S12 (the control portion BL13) which
controls the settings of the function modules BL14 through BL17,
the CPU 41 processes instructions made by the plurality of
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 independently in
parallel. Therefore, even if the client-side electronic musical
apparatuses 10 are not provided with sufficient screen data, the
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 are able to
appropriately establish settings of the function modules of the
server-side electronic musical apparatus 30.
Next explained will be the sequencing process of step S14, i.e.,
the sequencer module BL14. The sequencer module BL14 is composed of
a plurality of sequencer modules, each corresponding to each ID of
the client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. Each sequencer
module operates independently; for example, the start and stop of
each sequencer module are independently controlled by the
corresponding client-side electronic musical apparatus 10.
Furthermore, the tempo of the sequencer, the functions of the
sequencer and the like may vary among the client-side electronic
musical apparatuses 10. The functions of the sequencer modules
include a music data storage/reproduction function, an automatic
accompaniment function, an automatic composition function, a
performance assistance function, a training function, a musical
score display function, and the like.
In the music data storage function, if the performance operators 11
of the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 is operated by a
user, the CPU 21 transmits, by the process of step C14, an
ID-attached operational event signal (MIDI event data)
representative of the operation of the performance operators 11 to
the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 via the
communications network 50. In the sequencer module BL14 there are
stored, for each ID, operational events representative of
operations of the performance operators 11. In the music data
reproduction function, MIDI event data which forms music data is
sequentially read out and supplied to the tone generator module BL
15.
In the automatic accompaniment function, MIDI event data
representative of an operational event of the performance operators
11 transmitted from the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10
by the process similar to above-described step S14 is processed by
use of automatic accompaniment data and supplied to the tone
generator module BL15 as MIDI event data for controlling generation
of accompaniment tones. In the automatic composition function, MIDI
event data for controlling generation of a series of musical tones
is automatically generated and supplied to the tone generator
module BL15. In the performance assistance function, on the basis
of MIDI event data representative of an operational event of the
performance operators 11 supplied similarly to the above-described
automatic accompaniment function, MIDI event data for assisting
performance is automatically generated and supplied to the tone
generator module BL15. In the case as well where MIDI event data is
supplied from the sequencer module BL14 to the tone generator
module BL15, an ID for identifying the client-side electronic
musical apparatus 10 is attached to the MIDI event data.
In the training function, on the basis of stored music data, screen
data representative of training material for the user is generated
and transmitted onto the communications network 50. In the musical
score display function, on the basis of stored music data, screen
data representative of a musical score is generated and transmitted
onto the communications network 50. In these training function and
musical score display function as well, an ID for identifying the
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 is attached to the
screen data. The ID-added screen data is then transmitted by the
process of step S13, i.e., the control portion BL13. On the display
unit 13 of the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10, as a
result, there is displayed the training material or the musical
score.
Next explained will be the tone generating process of step S15,
i.e., the tone generator module BL15. The tone generator module
BL15 generates, in cooperation with the tone generator 33 having a
multiplicity of hardware tone generator channels, digital musical
tone signals for respective client-side electronic musical
apparatuses 10 and outputs the generated signals. Furthermore, the
tone generator module BL15 has a channel assignment function
achieved by the program process of step S5. The channel assignment
function causes the tone generator module BL15 to receive ID-added
MIDI event data (performance operational event signals by the
performance operators 11) transmitted from the client-side
electronic musical apparatus 10 at the above-described process C14,
and assign the MIDI event data to one of the tone generator
channels of the tone generator 33 in corresponding relation to the
received ID. Alternatively, the assignment may be made such that a
predetermined number of tone generator channels provided in the
tone generator 33 are previously assigned to the respective
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 so that the MIDI
event data is assigned to any one of the predetermined number of
tone generator channels designated by the received ID.
The tone generator channels to which MIDI event data is assigned
then generate digital musical tone signals specified by the MIDI
event data. As a result, the tone generating process of step S15,
i.e., the tone generator module BL15 generates digital musical
signals which follow parameters defined by the above-described step
S12, i.e., the control portion BL13, allowing each of the
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 to generate digital
musical tone signals in an independent manner. The digital musical
tone signals (i.e., digital audio data) generated as described
above are then transmitted to an input bus provided in
corresponding relation to an ID of the mixer module BL16.
Next explained will be a mixing process of step S16, i.e., the
mixer module BL16. The mixer module BL16 is realized by a program
process done by the CPU 41 in cooperation with the mixing circuit
34. The mixer module BL16 has sets of an input bus and an output
bus, each corresponding to a different one of the client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10. The mixer module BL16 also has a
plurality of mixing buses (not shown) provided between the
respective input buses and the respective output buses so that a
digital musical tone signal that is input to an input bus is
selectively output to an output bus. A digital musical tone signal
transmitted from the tone generator module BL15 to an input bus
corresponding to the ID is basically output without being
processed. As shown in depicted ID4, however, digital musical tone
signals transmitted to a plurality of input buses may be mixed and
output to one output bus. This achieves concerted music by the
plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. In a
case where an instructor plays with his/her students, in addition,
this also enables the instructor to obtain musical tones emitted by
the plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. The
settings of the mixer module BL16 are also established by the
process of the above-described step S12, i.e., the operation of the
control portion BL13.
Next explained will be the recording process of step S17, i.e., the
recorder module BL17. The recorder module BL17 records digital
musical tone signals (digital audio data) output in the mixer
module BL16 from the output buses each corresponding to the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 (i.e., the
respective IDs) in a recorder (the external storage device 45) for
each of the client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. The
recorder module BL17 also reproduces the digital musical tone
signals (digital audio data) recorded in the recorder for the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. In this
case, the digital musical tone signals may be output to the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 without
being processed. Alternatively, the digital musical tone signals
may be sent back to the mixer module BL17, mixed with other digital
musical tone signals and output to the client-side electronic
musical apparatuses 10. Settings of the recording/reproduction of
digital musical tone signals are also established by the
above-described step S12, i.e., the operation of the control
portion BL13.
The digital musical tone signals (digital audio data) mixed by the
mixer module BL16 and the digital musical tone signals (digital
audio data) reproduced by the recorder module BL17 as described
above are transmitted, by the process of step S18, onto the
communications network 50. In this case, the server-side electronic
musical apparatus 30 performs packet-processing on the digital
musical tone signals, converting the signals into a corresponding
ID-added audio packet and transmitting the packet onto the
communications network 50.
The client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 identified by the
ID attached to the audio packet retrieves, by the process of step
C15, the audio packet transmitted onto the communications network
50 and outputs the retrieved packet to the D/A converter 18. Since
the D/A converter 18 converts digital musical tone signals (digital
audio data) contained in the audio packet into analog signals and
supplies the converted signals to the sound system 14, emitted from
the sound system 14 are musical tones corresponding to the digital
musical tone signals.
As described above, similarly to the above-described process of
step S12 (setting and control by the control portion BL13), on
performing the sequencing process, tone generating process, mixing
process and recording process of steps S14 to S17, i.e., on
operating the sequencer module BL14, tone generator module BL15,
mixer module BL16 and recorder module BL17, the CPU 41 performs
processing on the respective client-side electronic musical
apparatuses 10 independently in parallel. In other words, the CPU
41 performs processing on an ID basis. Even if the client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10 are not provided with plenty of
various data for music and various music programs, therefore, the
respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 can
concurrently reproduce satisfactory musical tones supplied from the
server-side electronic musical apparatus 30. In addition, the
functions of the above-described modules BL14 to BL17 may be
enhanced by loading the latest function module program via the
Internet 60 from the web server 70 or the attachable external
storage device 25.
As apparent from the above operational descriptions, the
above-described embodiment allows the respective client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10, in spite of being
unsophisticated and low-performance, to utilize the sophisticated
and high-performance functions of the server-side electronic
musical apparatus 30 to operate as a sophisticated and
high-performance electronic musical apparatus. Particularly, since
the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 performs various
processing independently in parallel in response to requests from
the plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10, the
above-described embodiment is convenient in that the plurality of
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 are available
independently and concurrently.
In carrying out the present invention, furthermore, it will be
understood that the present invention is not limited to the
above-described embodiment, but various modifications may be made
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
In the above-described embodiment, for instance, each of the
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 is provided with a
different ID, however, the above embodiment may be modified such
that the plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10
share one ID. The modified embodiment is useful, for example, in
such a case as a user concurrently operates the plurality of the
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 and share the
sequencer module BL14 and the recorder module BL17 among the
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. In addition, the
modified embodiment is useful when an instructor and a student
operate the client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10
independently but share the sequencer module BL14 and the recorder
module BL17 among the client-side electronic musical apparatuses
10.
In the above-described embodiment, furthermore, the client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10 are allowed to use all the
functions of the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30,
however, the above-described embodiment may be modified such that
the functions of the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30
are selectively assigned to the client-side electronic musical
apparatuses 10. In one example, such selective assignment may be
made such that a specific one of the client-side electronic musical
apparatuses 10 is disabled from using the function of the sequencer
module BL14 of the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30,
while another client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 is
disabled from using the function of the recorder module BL17 of the
server-side electronic musical apparatus 30. In another example,
such selective assignment may be made such that a specific one of
the client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 is allowed to use
only the music data storage/reproduction function of the sequencer
module BL14 of the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30,
while another electronic musical apparatus 10 is allowed to use
only the automatic accompaniment and training functions of the
sequencer module BL14 of the server-side electronic musical
apparatus 30. In the other example, such selective assignment may
be made such that a specific one of the client-side electronic
musical apparatuses 10 is given higher priority than the other
client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 in using the
functions of the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 (e.g.,
in obtaining more music channels), in other words, such that a
specific function is preferentially assigned to the specific
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 or specific client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10.
In the above-described embodiment, furthermore, the functions of
the client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 are completely
different from those of the server-side electronic musical
apparatus 30, however, the above-described embodiment may be
modified to provide a specific one of the client-side electronic
musical apparatuses 10 with the functions of the server-side
electronic musical apparatus 30. More specifically, the specific
client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 having the performance
operators 11, sound system 14, etc. may be equipped with various
functions of the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30, being
capable of working as the client-side electronic musical apparatus
10 as well as functioning as the server-side electronic musical
apparatus 30 that responds to requests from the other client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10.
In the above-described embodiment, furthermore, the server-side
electronic musical apparatus 30 is provided with the functions of
the sequencer module BL14, the tone generator module BL15, the
mixer module BL16 and the recorder module BL17. The above-described
embodiment may be modified to employ a plurality of server-side
electronic musical apparatuses 30. In this modification, one or
more of the above-described functions is/are contained in each of
the server-side electronic musical apparatuses 30 so that the
above-described functions are shared by the plurality of
server-side electronic musical apparatuses.
Although descriptions about the above-described embodiment do not
include power management, the power management of the server-side
electronic musical apparatus 30 may be done in accordance with the
operational status of the client-side electronic musical
apparatuses 10. The power management may be done, for example, such
that the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 is activated
in power saving mode, and enters normal operational mode when any
one of the client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 is
activated. In this power management, when all the client-side
electronic musical apparatuses 10 have completed their operation,
the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 enters power saving
mode again.
In the above-described embodiment, furthermore, the sound system 14
is integrally formed in the client-side electronic musical
apparatus 10, however, the above-described embodiment may be
modified such that the sound system 14 is separately provided on
the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 so that the sound
system 14 is selectively connected to the client-side electronic
musical apparatus 10. In this modification, the client-side
electronic musical apparatus 10 may be selectively connected to
both of the amplifier and the speakers that form the sound system
14. Alternatively, the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10
may be equipped with the amplifier and selectively connected only
to the speakers.
* * * * *